The women's rights committee of the European Parliament has voted for an extension of paid maternity leave to 20 weeks in all member states of the European Union. In a vote taken yesterday, the committee also backed a proposal for an entitlement to paid paternity leave of at least two weeks.
The committee's report was adopted by 19 votes in favour, 13 against and an abstention and goes before a plenary sitting of the European Parliament next month.
Paid maternity leave in Malta is currently 14 weeks, and employers have been resisting an extension, pointing to the possibility of disruptions and cost pressures on competitiveness. They have also pointed out that such an extension has to be seen in the context of the long vacation leave available to Maltese workers and the availability of family friendly measures.
The committee argued that workers on maternity leave must be paid their full salary or their average monthly salary.
It said legislation on maternity and paternity leave should also apply to parents who adopt a child of less than 12 months old. Furthermore, fully paid additional maternity leave should be granted in specific situations such as premature childbirth, children with disabilities, mothers with disabilities, teenage mothers, multiple birth, and births occurring within 18 months of previous births.
The Women's Rights Committee also adopted amendments to ban the dismissal of pregnant workers from the beginning of a pregnancy to at least six months following the end of the maternity leave. Dismissal during that period must be formally justified in writing.
The committee added that workers must not be obliged to perform night work or work overtime during the 10 weeks prior to childbirth, during the remainder of the pregnancy in case of health problem of the mother or the unborn child and during the entire period of breastfeeding. Workers wishing to be exempted from night work must inform their employer and submit a medical certificate.
Writing in The Times in November, Joe Farrugia, Director-General of the Malta Employers' Association, said that employers could not commit themselves to support the extension of the maternity leave before it was specified whether this would be paid, and, if so, at what rate and by whom.
"While in Malta it is taken for granted that maternity leave is compensated at full pay, facts in many other EU states show otherwise. There are cases where maternity leave is paid at minimum wage, not paid at all, or paid by the state," he said.
"The issue of extended maternity leave, and its implications to employers, has also to be approached within the wider context of family-friendly measures and vacation leave. In a country which boasts among the highest number of paid vacation leave days in the world, the added costs of some family-friendly measures will have a more pronounced effect on productivity and competitiveness."